It's hard to predict the future because we humans prefer to think in terms of familiar paradigms. Even the most brilliant of our species are subject to this flaw. Now, Microsoft faces its turn. The owner of the operating system that likely runs your personal computer, the company that achieved monopoly with Windows and ducked the Department of Justice's scythe to keep it, faces a midlife crisis as the world goes gaga over portable consumer devices. This is the story of what's happening to Microsoft in the handheld operating system markets -- and how it parallels the earlier, similar journeys of IBM Corporation and Digital Equipment Corporation. Can Microsoft achieve dominance on mobile devices?

Okay. Not that I want to argue about your response but those software developer shops are not the ones that change the landscape regarding penetration of Linux vs Windows. It's the business and the private sector that is doing that. Software development shops usually don't set the trend. It's their customers. So if whole business sector or a specialized market segment goes from Windows to Linux then the software development shops follow. And since most desktops out there in the wild are Windows desktops it is an absolute logical result that most software development shops go with the flow and use Windows. This is normal and logical.